and another one

[ceelove]

Thanks for all the responses about gov't agencies. In return, I give you more questions!

Small, wealthy New England town. Residents start freaking out inexplicably, causing car accidents, enacting violence against each other. What's the protocol, in terms of declaring and enforcing a state of emergency? Does the mayor direct activity? How is the emergency broadcasting service put into effect? What would be the chain of command, to get word to the police and press not to go near the site?

I don't need this to be perfect, but I do want it to have verisimilitude.

Comments

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

If it's a range of a few blocks, it's probably stay with the local police for quite a while. Small new england towns (I'm using ours as an example) usu. have one police station and a couple of fire houses. Police trying to deal with it would call for backup, until all the police in town were either busy or affected... then what? Can they call in the state police? those aren't supposed to have jurisdiction off the state highway?

Small new england town... does it have a town council instead of a mayor? Mayors are usually for cities. You might have a town clerk and several town council members around on any given day in the town hall, and a police and a fire chief in their respective stations. My guess is our town has about 20 FT policemen, not all on duty at once. Hm, my guess is the chain would be, police chief realizes he can't deal and calls the state police? Hm. You might research this by interviewing someone actually in this line of work.

[ceelove.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's a lot of help.